Bottle capping mechanism



May 8? 3934- a... E. LA BOMBARD ET An. ,958,306

BOTTLE CAPPING MECHANISM Filed April 4, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 MMV/5 am@ May 8, W34- 1 E. LA BOMBARD Er AL 1,958,306

BOTTLE CAPPING MECHANI SM Filed April 4, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet' 2 atentecl May 8, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOTTLE CAPPING MECHANISM York Application April 4, 1933, Serial No. 664,399

8 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in bottle capping machinery; and the nature and objects of the invention will be understood by those skilled in the art in light of the following explanations of the accompanying drawings that illustrate what we now believe to be the preferred mechanical expression or embodiment of our invention from among other forms and arrangements within the spirit and scope thereof.

An object of the invention is to so improve bottle capping apparatus as to render the same eiiicient in the operation of inserting so-called iiipper bottle caps or closure disks in bottle mouths onto the internal sealing bottle mouth shoulders and into the internal undercut or radial enlarged portions of said mouths, completely around the circle or marginal portions of said disks to form approximate liquid tight seals, and to reduce to the minimum possibility of liquid leakage past the marginal portions of the seated closure disks where the tabs rise therefrom.

And a further object of the invention is to so form the throat portion of bottle capping apparatus as to maintain and support the flipper cap, when free of the cap feed slide that has delivered the cap over said throat, in approximately horizontal position in operative relation to and under the vertically movable cap seating plunger, and to so form and support said plunger with respect to said throat and the bottle mouth as to insert the iiipper cap completely around the circle of the marginal portion thereof, into the internal annular radial enlargement of said mouth and onto the annular sealing shoulder or seat within said mouth to reduce to the minimum possibility of liquid leakage past the sealed cap or disk, by the cooperating die action of the rounded surface of the bottle mouth and the coacting portion of said plunger to iron out the tab portion of the closure disk or cap to transversely arcuate form of the approximate radius of the bottle mouth and to approximately radially expand the junction beween the disk marginal portion and the base of the tab into said radial enlargement of the bottle mouth over said bottle mouth seat or shoulder.

And a further object of the invention is to provide a hopper unit for holding a flipper cap package, square in cross section, in operative gravity feed relation to the cap feed inlet of a standard or other type of bottle capping machine.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features in structure, arrangement and combination, as more fully described and specified hereinafter.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof Fig. 1 is a side elevation partially in vertical section of a standard or other bottle capping head, removed from its operating and supporting mechanism and showing the hopper unit of our invention applied thereto and supporting a flipper cap tubular package square in cross-section, the capping mechanism embodying an example of our invention, and showing the feed mechanism at the limit of its feeding stroke.

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the disclosure of Fig. 1, showing the feeding mechanism at its return stroke limit, and the capping head at its limit of downward movement, a flipper cap being shown in section seated by the capping head in the mouth of a bottle shown in section.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken in the plane of the line 3--3, Fig. 1. l

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken in the plane of the line 4 4, Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged horizontal section taken approximately in the same horizontal plane as Fig. 4, showing a ipper cap in top plan being forced by the feed plate toward the capping throat.

Fig. 6 is a detail vertical section showing a flipper cap, a bottle mouth and the base of the apparatus in vertical section with the capping head or plunger starting to force the cap through the throat and cooperating with the ledge 21 to cause upward bending of the tip portion of the ipper cap tab.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of thefiipper cap with its tab partially upturned about as in Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a detailed section of the apparatus disclosure of Fig. 6, showing the flipper tab in crosssection about at the elevation where the plunger or head has depressed the cap with its tab engaging the round lip of the bottle mouth.

Fig. 9 shows the cap in top plan with its tab bent upwardly approximately to the extent disclosed in Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is a detailed sectional view' showing the apparatus disclosures of Figs. 6 and 8 with the ipper cap completely seated in the bottle mouth.

Fig. 1l shows the flipper cap in top plan with vits tab in the position and form shown in Fig. 10.

By the term flipper bottle cap or closure disk, is meant the fiat stiff paper or other sheet material disks A, that are formed in one piece with tabs a, projecting radially from the disk margins, to form upstanding pull tabs when the disks are seated in sealing positions in bottle mouths. These flipper caps as delivered to the bottlers for application to the bottles by appropriate capping machines, are round or circular except for said radial marginal tabs, which are at with their top and bottom faces in the same planes as the flat top and bottom faces as the round disks, respectively. The bottle mouth for which these flipper caps are primarily designed, have a transversely rounded annular top rim curving inwardly and downwardly into the bottle mouth which is internally formed with an annular upwardly facing seat or shoulder on which the closure disk should flatly seat completely around the marginal portion of its bottom face, and with an annular undercut or radial enlargement in the bottle mouth internal annular vertical wall immediately over said seat or shoulder, in which the marginal edge of the cap or closure should tightly t uniformly around the circle thereof to produce a liquid tight seal. And it4 is here that there has heretofore been diflioulty in securing a liquid tight seal of the bottle mouth where ipper caps were employed, owing to the fact that the tabs of the flipper caps would, in the capping operation, remain in their transversely flat form, and their bases where joined to the flat cap would hinge in turning from the horizontal to the vertical position, on a straight line forming a chord of the circle of the rim of the horizontal cap seated in the bottle mouth, and hence the cap would be of reduced radius at the base of the vertical tab, at said straight line portion of the cap rim, and the cap at said straight line portion would not form a liquid tight seal on the sealing shoulder and within the undercut portion of the bottle mouth. When driving such a flipper cap to its seat on the bottle mouth shoulder and into the annular undercut portion of the bottle mouth, the tendency of the tab of the flipper cap to remain flat and bend up on a straight line, as just noted, according to the best of our information and knowledge, regardless of peculiar flipper cap formations that have been heretofore proposed to remedy the noted difliculty where common and/or standard types of capping machines are employed. And to the best of our information and knowledge, mechanical means have not heretofore been proposed in capping machinery, that will in practice successively overcome this diiiiculty, and seat flipper caps in liquid tight sealing position in bottle mouths, such as described, with the tabs transversely curved at their base portions to conform to the inside curvature of radius of the bottle mouth and with, the base of such tab rising from the at disk on such arcuate line and extending the required distance into the bottle mouth annular undercut portion and onto the bottle mouth shoulder to maintain the rim circle of the closure disk unbroken and forming the desired liquid tight seal throughout the full circle of its rim.

We have accomplished this highly desirable result by providingr an appropriate capping throat and bottle centering hood, that will permit the action sought. and an appropriate capping plunger head movable axially or longitudinally through the throat and hood and into the bottle mouth centered by said hood, and provided with a peculiar die face arranged to cooperate with the downwardly rounded or curved inner face of the bottle mouth in ironing out or shaping the tab of the horizontal flipper cap being carried down4 into the bottle mouth by the descending plunger, to produce the transversely curved or arcuate form of the base of said tab where it joins the rim of the horizontal seated disk and to carry said curved arcuate portion of the circular rim to the fllll extent of the remainder of the circular rim, into the undercut portion of the bottle mouth and fully down onto the upwardly facing shoulder in said mouth. For instance, we show a well known type of capping head to which we have applied our invention to illustrate an example of an embodiment thereof for purposes of explanation.

This typical capping head, emobdies a horizontal longitudinally elongated base plate 1, one end of which forms the annular depending belllike bottle mouth receiving hood or bell 2, and the axially alined vertical bottle cap or closure disk throat 3, open at its lower end into the hood 2 and at its upper end through the base plate. If so desired this throat can contract very slightly downwardly.

A suitable frame is bolted or otherwise secured on and rises from this base l, to provide the vertical plunger chamber 4, rising from and axially alined with the cap or closure disk throat 3, and the bottle centering hood 2, and the vertical bearing or slideway 5, for the plunger rod 6, to the lower end of which the cap seating plunger head 7, normally located in elevated position in chamber 4, is rigidly secured. This capping head 7, is axially alined with the throat and hood and is designed to descend longitudinally and concentrically therethrough on its capping strokes. The mounting of this head and its plunger rod, is such that the plunger is yieldingly maintained in its axial alinement with the throat but is capable under sufficient or radial pressure, of yielding or giving laterally or radially and of returning to its vertical central position when such radial pressure: is relieved.

The upper frame also provides the upstanding tubular cap feed socket 9, over the base 1, and rigid and parallel with the plunger chamber 4. This vertical tubular socket 9, is open at its upper and lower ends and is longitudinally slotted at 10, throughout its length. The lower end edge' of socket 9, is spaced a distance vertically from the top longitudinal flat slideway 11, on the top face of the base 1, approximately equal to the thickness of the caps being handled by the machine, for the lateral passage of a cap along said oor or slideway 11, from the lower end of socket 9, and for the passage of the cap feeding slide plate 12, under said socket 9, and along said floor.

The socket 9, is adapted to receive a column of flipper caps with their tabs alined and projecting into and freely movable vertically in the slot l0, so that the caps are free to flow downwardly by gravity as the bottom caps are removed laterally therefrom along floor 11, by the feed plate 12. The slot 10, thus holds the caps with their tabs projecting centrally rearwardly therefrom, in the direction the caps are moved along the floor 11, from socket 9, and to maintain this positioning of the caps and their tabs, and thus deliver the same to the cap throat below the elevated capping or plunger head. The feed plate 12, which rests and slides on floor 1l, has a transversely concaved front pushing edge 11a, to receive the rear portion of each cap with a central rearwardly extending recess 11b, to loosely receive and center the tab of each cap being advanced' by the slide, and to thus deliver the caps centrally over the cap throat and there leave each cap deposited, as the feed plate moves on its return stroke. The feed plate 12, at the limit of its return stroke is located outwardly beyond the cap feed magazine socket 9, and the bottom cap of the column in socket 9, rests on the floor ll, in

front of the concaved cap pushing edge of the feed plate. The feed plate is mounted and actuated on its straight line feed and return strokes by any suitable means, although in this example, we happen to show the plate carried by slide block 14, conned to and slidable longitudinally of base 1, and actuated by av system of links 15, 16, and levers 1'7, operatively joining slide block 14, and a cross head 18, rigid with the spring- 'pressed plunger rod of the capping head, in such manner that the plunger head performs its downward capping stroke while the feed plate is withdrawn rearwardly and the feed plate makes its cap feeding stroke while the capping head is withdrawn upwardly, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, even though the capping head operating and supporting mechanisms of a well known type of capping machine are not illustrated.

, The cap floor 11, terminates at its front end ush with the annular surrounding wall of the upper end of the vertical cap passage or throat 3, so that when the feed plate 12, reaches its limit of forward feeding stroke, the cap pushed thereby will have advanced beyond the front end of floor 11, and will drop into the open upper end of said throat and will there remain below the elevated capping head '7, when the feed plate moves back on its return stroke. As is usual in cappers ofthis type, the front wall of the upper end of the throat opposite the lateral cap entrance into the throat along floor 11, is slightly elevated above the horizontal plane of oor 11. to stop the forward movement of the cap and to cause the cap to drop down into and transversely across the throat whch is usually of an internal diameter slightly below its open top end, somewhat restricted with respect to the exterior diameter of the round portion of the cap to prevent the cap from dropping loosely down through the throat. It is advisable for proper capping, to maintain the cap in the upper end of the throat in a horizontal position with its top face approximately parallel with the flat bottom face of the elevated plunger head, so that the head as it descends will squarely and centrally engage the top face of the cap and thus accurately force the cap while in a horizontal position down through said throat and therefrom down into the mouth of the bottle centered and tting up in the hood 2.

We have hence formed a central open-top depressed recess 20, in the top floor of the base 1, extending rearwardly radially from and at its front end opening into the open end of the throat. to loosely receive the central rearwardlxl projecting tab a, of the cap spannng the throat. When this cap drops into the throat. its tab will register with and drop into the recess 20. and the cap will thus be able to freely and automatically assume a horizontal position in which it will be upheld by the depressed flat floor 21 of said recess. This depressed nat floor also upholds the cap in the desired depressed horizontal position, and supports the same against assuming the objectionable oblique tilted position in the throat with the usually resultingr cap jambing and distortion and improper capping under the capping stroke of the head.

For a purpose tol be hereinafter expla'ned, the cap tab supporting floor 21, is reatively short and terminates short of the front or base end of recess 20, thereby leaving or forming a front radial notch or opening that extends vertically throughout the length of the cap throat, so that, in reality, we prefer to uphold` the cap in said depressed horizontal position, by the outer tip portion of the cap tab which rests on said radially short oor 21.

The maximum external diameter of the bottom working face of the capping head '7, is substantially less than the diameters of the bottle cap, head chamber, the cap throat, and the bottle mouth, respectively, as this is desirable for proper capping, and necessary to avoid bottle head breakage. In f act the cylindrical portion of the bottom Working face, is of substant ally shorter diameter than the throat, bottle cap, and bottle mouth diameters, respectively.

The capping head 7, is formed with a rigid radially projecting die finger or lug 23, the flat bottom surface of which is in a common horizontal pane with the bottom face of the head 7. The outer end die face 23a, of ths lug is transversely convex or arcuate and substantially concentric with the cylindrical circumferential portion 7b, of the head. The vertical width or length of the convex die surface 23a, is equal to the vertica length or width of the cylindrical circumference 7b, of the head but this die face 23a, bevels or :'nclines upwardly and inwardly from the at bottom face of lug 23, to the top face thereof so as to form an approximately sharp curved acute ange edge 23e, where the lower end of the inclined face 23a, meets the horizontal bottom face of the radial lug. This lug 23, projects rearwardly from the rear side of the otherwise cylindrical head 7, and is accurately alined vertically with the tab a, of the horizontal flipper cap in operative posit'on in the upper end of the capping throat and with the depressed recess 20, in which said tab rests. The capping head 7, is held against turning or axial movement to always maintain this accurate vertical al nement of die lug 23, with the tab a, of the propery positioned ilipper cap in said throat, so that as the head descends, the at bottom face of lug 23 will engage the at top of the base portion of tab a, as the flat face of the head engages the top face of the cylindrical body of the cap or disk A, and the tab will be thereby carried down with the body of the disk, through the throat and into the bottle mouth, the lug and tab a, passing down through the notch in the base of recess 20, and past the front edge of the short recess oor 2l. The lug 23, projects 125 a comparatively short d'stance radially from the cyindrical head '7, to normally cover only the base portion of tab a, when carrying the cap through the throat, before the tab contacts the curved top rim of the bottle mouth, hence the curved outer edge 23o, clears the front transverse straight edge of short floor 2l, by a substantial distance as the lug moves down past the same, and hence the tip portion only of the tab a, of the cap being carried down by the head, is bent up on the lug end 23e, as it slips from oor 2l, and is dragged down across the straight front edge of thefloor. The curved edge 23e, of the die lug :'s substantially concentric with the inner circle of the bottle mouth and with the cylindrical circumference of the head 7, and the length of said edge 23C, is intended to equal the curved length or arc of the rim portion of the round closure disk from which the base of the tab rises, when the cap or closure disk is properly 145 seated in the bottle mouth to form a liquid tight seal.

The capping head '7, is normally, i. e., when above the bottle mouth, positioned with its longitudinal axis approximately alined with the lon- 150 gitudinal axis or center of the bottle mouth, to locate the bottom face of the die lug 23, over and bearing on the base portion of the tab a, of the disk or tab being pushed through the throat by the head, which brings thecurved outer edge 23e, of said lug and the tab a, directly above the transversely downwardly curved annular top rim of the bottle mouth. Hence, as the cap or disk driven by the head passes down from the throat, and into the bottle mouth, the tab will lie radially across said rim and as the head and disk descend in the rim, said tab will slide inwardly and downwardly across the rim and gradually assume the upright position while the descending die lug on and backing the base portion of the tab forces the same against the downwardly curving inner surface of said rim gradually springs or presses the capping head laterally from normal position and the lug inwardly from the base portion of the tab While the curved edge 23e, irons and shapes the base of the tab against the curved annular surface of the bottle rim, to correspondingly transversely curve said tab base, all under the lateral tension of the head to return to its normal position. 'I'he die face of the capping head thus is pressed radially against the tab and forces the tab against the inner bottle mouth surface and into final expanded position in the annular enlargement of the bottle mouth and down onto the internal bottle mouth shoulder, with the disk throughout its entire circumference fitting into said enlargement with the desired liquid tight seal and with the tab base rising from the top of the rim and transversely curved to conform to and concentrically with the circumference of the disk. 'Ihe upwardly and inner bevel of the curved end or die face of the lug permits and aids in the cooperative action of the lug and bottle mouth surface in the flnal swaging and shaping of the tab to the transverse curved from rising directly from the top side of the rim portion of the seated cap, and in seating said arcuate rim portion of the cap in the bottle mouth radial enlargement. When the head rises from the seated cap on its return stroke, the beveled die surface follows up along and again irons out the upstanding tab.

Bottle capping mechanism that embodies our invention, for instance as per the example disclosed hereby, can still be employed to efficiently cap bottles with round closure disks or caps that are not provided with the radial projecting tabs.

Standard capping machines in general use provide cylindrical cap feed sockets, such as 9, to removably receive and vertically hold long tubes containing columns of caps that feed by gravity into such socket.

We show a removable hopper unit for holding square tube magazines of flipper caps and delivering the caps therefrom into the socket 9. These flipper cap packages embody an elongated tube square in cross section with the long column of flipper caps loosely enclosed therein to freely feed longitudinally by gravity, with the tabs of all of the caps loosely conilned in any one of the four internal longitudinal corners of the square tube.

This hopper unit forms a straight tubular member, the lower portion 30, of which is cylindrical to removably telescope or slide into the socket 9, and preferably provided with key or lug 31, to fit in top notch or slot 32, in the top edge of socket 9, to hold the hopper against axial or turning movement in the socket, and to thereby maintain the longitudinal slot 33,.in the hopper in registration with the longitudinal slot in the socket.

The upper longitudinal portion 34, of this stiff strong preferably one-piece hopper unit, is square in cross section to longitudinally and internally receive the discharge end of a square tube of flipper caps and to removably support said tube in vertical position. The upper end or mouth portion of said hopper unit can be outwardly and upwardly flared, at 35, to guide the square tube of flipper caps into the hopper.

The longitudinal intermediate portion 36, of the straight tubular hopper unit, forms a cap centering longitudinal passage from the square socket 34, to the cylindrical longitudinally alined cylindrical stem or lower end of the unit, and whereby said portion 34, square in cross section is gradually longitudinally reduced and merged downwardly to the cylindrical form and diameter of the lower end of the unit.

The longitudinal slot 33, extends along one of the longitudinal corners of the square socket 34, and throughout the lengths of the intermediate or throat length 36, and the cylindrical lower end, for the passage of the tabs of the closure disks or tabs descending from the square package, through the hopper unit and into the slot in socket 9, to maintain the proper positioning of the cap tabs when the caps are delivered to the feed plate of the capping machine. The hopper unit can be applied to and removed from the capping machine, as required by the different cross sectional forms of the tubes in which the bottle caps are packaged.

What We claim is:-

l. Apparatus for seating flipper bottle caps in bottle mouths, embodying a capping head, a base providing a bottle head centering hood, and a cap throat opening` downwardly into said hood, said throat opening upwardly through said base, said base providing an open-top central recess or notch arranged longitudinally of said throat and projecting radially from and at its base opening into said throat for -the downward passage of the radial tab ofy a flipper cap traversing said throat beneath said capping head and adapted to be seated thereby in the bottle mouth, and a relatively depressed ledge in the upper part of said recess.

2. Apparatus for applying flipper caps to bottle mouths, embodying a capping head, a member having a cap throat alined with said head and through and from which the flipper cap is forced by the head into the bottle mouth; and means to successively deliver flipper caps horizontally across and deposit the same in said throat with their tabs projecting rearwardly, said member providing an open-top recess or notch longitudinally of said throat and projecting rearwardly and radially from said throat to vertically receive the radial tab of the horizontal flipper cap transversely spanning said throat and dropped by said means, and a ledge in and partially interrupting said notch to cooperate with said capping head in bending said tab upwardly.

3. Apparatus for applying flipper caps to `bottle mouths, embodying a capping head having a radial die lug, a member having a cap throat alined with said head and having a longitudinal notch alined with said lug and an open-top cap tab Areceiving recess projecting laterally from said notch and having a short depressed floor, said recess adapted to vertically receive the radial tab of a flipper cap extending horizontally across said throat.

4. Apparatus for applying ipper caps to bottle mouths, embodying means providing a cap throat adapted to receive and hold a flipper cap in horizontal position traversing the throat, a capping head longitudinally alined with said throat to force said horizontal flipper cap therethrough and into a bottle mouth, said capping head having a radial die with a transversely convexed upwardly and inwardly inclined end die face, for the purposes substantially as described.

5. Apparatus for seating iiipper caps in bottle mouths, embodying a bottle head centering hood, means providing a cap throat longitudinally alined with and leading to said hood, said throat having a longitudinal notch, flipper cap feed 'means for successively depositing flipper caps in horizontal position traversing said throat each with its radial tab extending horizontally across said notch, and a capper head adapted to cooperate with said means and the bottle mouth in said hood in forcing iiipper caps through said throat and into said bottle mouth, said head having a die lug arranged to carry the iiipper cap tab down through said notch, said lug having a transversely curved end to cooperate with the curved surface of the bottle mouth in shaping said tab to the transverse curvature of the lug end and the bottle mouth surface and in seating the cap in the bottle mouth completely around the circle of the cap rim with the transversely curved tab base rising from the top of the cap margin.

6. Apparatus for seating flipper caps in bottle mouths, embodying a capper head laterally movable under tension from its normal position with constant tendency to return to said position, said head having a radial die lug having a transversely curved end edge and an upwardly and inwardly bevelled face, to cooperate with the curved depending annular surface of the bottle mouth into which the head is seating a flipper cap, in swaging and shaping the base of the tab of said cap to transversely curved form with the transversely curved base of the tab rising from the upper side of the arcuate rim portion of the seated cap.

7. A capping mechanism having an upright open-top cylindrical socket leading to the cap feed of said mechanism, and a straight tubular cap feeding hopper unit having a cylindrical stem to longitudinally fit said socket in longitudinal cap feeding alinement, a longitudinal socket square in cross section to longitudinally receive a tube square in cross section forming a gravity feed magazine for a column of flipper caps, and an intermediate section merging and contracting downwardly from said form square in cross section to said cylindrical form and dimension of said stem.

8. A straight tubular hopper unit for the cylindrical cap feed socket of a flipper cap applying mechanism, said unit having its top end portion open at one end and square in cross section to slidably and longitudinally receive the discharge end of an upright tube square in cross section to form a gravity feed magazine for a colunm of flipper bottle caps, said square end of said unit contracting and merging downwardly into a central longitudinal cylindrical stem to longitudinally t and feed said caps into said socket.

LEON E. LA BOMIBARD. KENNETH G. QUADE.

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